A Long Overdue Apology
by Taw2541
Summary: A one-shot set after 4x15, Oliver goes to see Laurel after she learns about Samantha and William.


Laurel needed a break from her work, she spent hours both today and the last couple of days preparing for her prosecution against Damien Darhk, now that the team had finally captured him. She spent an hour or so on the punching bag, at first she focused on combinations but now she was shifting between power and speed techniques. As she was delivering a right cross she could have sworn that she heard someone knocking on her apartment door, once she stopped punching she definitely heard knocking. As she walked to her door, Laurel began removing her boxing gloves and briefly, a thought came to her head how sweaty she was and in her sports clothes; if she was overly vain about her appearance she would have done something about it before answering the door. Checking the door, it was Oliver and she immediately opened it.

"Laurel, sorry am I interrupting something?" Oliver asked.

"No, just taking a break," Laurel said with some slight panting as she gestured Oliver to come in. Closing the door behind her, Laurel saw Oliver looking at her case files probably out of curiosity. "So what brings you by?"

"Um, the past couple of days I was so busy dealing with Darhk that I never got the chance to apologize to you." He said.

"Apologize for what?" Laurel said a little defensively as she already knew what this conversation was going to be about.

"About Samantha and William." He said his face heavy with guilt.

"For cheating on me with someone other than my sister, for knocking Samantha up, or for never bothering to tell me any of it." She said trying to control her anger.

"All of it, Laurel I'm ... I'm so sorry, there's no excuse for what I did." He said.

Standing silent for several seconds, Laurel eventually looked at Oliver and spoke. "You know I talked to my dad about why this bothered me even though we've been over for a long time ... even though I knew you weren't exactly faithful to me when we were together. Thinking about it I just wanna know one thing, were you ever gonna tell me?" She asked.

"Yes, after I found out about William, next to Felicity and Thea, you were the person I felt deserved to know more than anyone." He explained.

"No, I mean why didn't you tell me back when you still wanted to be with me?" She said a little louder than she intended. "Didn't you think I had a right to know back then?"

"No, of course, you did." He said in agreement.

"So why didn't you?" She asked.

"I thought about it, a lot over the years whether I should tell you because you're right you had every right to know. But if I told you ... it would just hurt you. Laurel, you already knew that I broke your heart like that with Sara, so I didn't tell you because I didn't want to hurt you just ... just to make myself feel better. Maybe it was wrong of me to not tell you about the other woman I cheated on you with besides Sara but that's the truth. Laurel, ever since I came back from Lian Yu the last thing I ever wanted to do was cause you more pain than I already have." He explained.

Laurel stood there for a moment taking in his answers, she knew that ever since he came back Ollie in one way or another had at least tried not hurting her any more than he already had; even if he failed sometimes spectacularly at it. "Look, Ollie, I've got to go back to work for my case against Darhk." She said politely suggesting that he leave.

"Alright, I really am sorry Laurel. If I could change ... if I could change the circumstances of how William came to be in a way that didn't hurt you ... I would." He said and then walked to the door.

"Oliver!" She said as he then turned to look at her. "Look I'm upset about this, but as I said we've been over a long time so I know I'll get over it." She said as she then walked over closer to Oliver. "Having said that I'm glad you have William, I think that being a father will be really good for you and maybe help get pieces of yourself back that you've lost a long time ago."

"Thanks, but as far as actually being a father to my son, that's gonna have to wait for a while." He said sadly.

"What's that suppose to mean?" She asked curiously.

"After getting kidnapped by Darhk, Samantha and I decided to ... to keep William out of my life for his own protection. So that he can be safe and have a normal childhood." He said the words to still hurting to say.

"So, you're just not going to be a part of your son's life, ever?" She asked trying not to sound judgemental but did, unfortunately.

"Until he's eighteen, yeah pretty much." He replied. "You disapproved?"

"Honestly, yeah I do. I think you should take an active role in your kid's life. But that's just my opinion, I'm not William's parent and it's up to you and his mother to decide how to best raise him, not me. I'm sorry, though." She said.

"For what?" He asked.

"For, giving up your son, so that he can have a life like that; I can't imagine how hard that must have been for you." She said with sympathy.

"More than you could ever know." He said sadly. "I should go, good luck with your case." He said as he opened the door.

"Hey, Ollie. See you tomorrow." She said.

"See you tomorrow," Oliver said as he left her apartment and shut the door.

* * *

**Author's Notes: I really wished that they would have shown a scene like this in Season 4, because if Oliver didn't apologize to Laurel about Samantha then he would have been a bigger dick than he already is. As for Laurel's reactions in this story, I tried to keep it civil but realistically even she isn't with Oliver at this point anyone would have been pissed about this. For Oliver's reasons for not telling Laurel I felt this was a good explanation, as even though he hasn't done the best job of it since coming back (that's on you writers) he really doesn't want to hurt Laurel anymore than he already has.**

**I hope you enjoyed this story, please leave reviews and be sure to read my other works.**


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